Noel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like Deputy Neville, I do not believe we are against expanding or increasing the rights of workers. There is much common ground between the various parties and, indeed, between the various employers in terms of trying to improve the lot of workers. We should try not to be confrontational about that.

I would like to have a little more data. Much of what we are discussing here is anecdotes from both sides of the spectrum. Deputy Neville expressed that to me too. It would be helpful if we could hone in on data in the cross tabulations. If there is 2.6%, what percentage of those are students, what percentage of them have multiple part-time jobs and so forth? That would be helpful.

Ms Callan raised an interesting point about the regulatory impact assessment. Are the RAI and the Irish Hotels Federation in favour of that too? I presume they would be. It appears that it should be a minimum requirement for this. In addition, if this Bill was enacted without any amendments, as some are proposing, how would it affect the witnesses' member organisations? Have the organisations quantified how many jobs it might cost or the type of impact it might have financially on an individual business? Have any assessments been carried out in that regard?

In terms of the specifics mentioned by Ms Callan, the point made about banking, mortgages and the need for banks to look at matters differently is commendable and is certainly worth examining. However, it is also quite easily manipulated and if we went back in that direction would there not be further problems in the mortgage sector? I am concerned about the idea of looking at P60s alone and trying to project forward into the future for people. Obviously, a business can be seasonal. Somebody could have one good year for income but could have five bad years thereafter. It appears to be a bad way of doing things.

The witness is correct with regard to the flexibility around the hours per week and posting the hours. Regarding the requirement to post in English, Irish and any other language, given the nature of restaurants and hotels with new staff joining and other staff leaving, it appears that the any other language requirement would be a serious burden. I doubt that one could simply Google and chance it. One would open oneself to a serious court challenge or a serious employment tribunal case if one got it wrong. If one got it wrong on a consistent basis and ended up dismissing an employee thereafter, one would be open to a serious challenge if it turned out one's translations were incorrect. That is a serious burden to place on people.

My final question is directed in particular to Mr. Fenn. Does he think that if these regulations are imposed they will have a substantial impact on the organisation's members, in the context of the federation competing with relatively unregulated entities such as Airbnb and the like? Is that a potential problem in the future? There is much talk about self-employed versus employed. I named one organisation but we see this happening more extensively. It is not confined to the food delivery sector, and I will be careful not to name individual organisations. In the home cleaning area, for example, people are being displayed as self-employed rather than employed. It also applies to industries that we have considered to be self-employed for a long time, such as taxi driving. There are over-arching organisations, people wearing uniforms and elements that are normally associated with traditional employment, yet they are on self-employed contracts. That is probably worthy of discussion in and of itself on another occasion. What exactly constitutes an employee and a self-employed person at present is a worthy topic. However, perhaps the witnesses would respond to my questions.